H  7 S’ 2  A-  inC'o/n  Koosn 

[American  Tract,  No  5.  Octavo  Series.] 

THE  HOMESTEAD. 

Man  has  a  right  to  land.  There  is  not  a  single  instance  among  the  animal 
tribes  of  one  being  systematically  deprived  of  the  means  necessary  to  its  ex¬ 
istence  by  others  of  its  own  kind.  No  All-Wise  Power  ever  designed  that 
man  alone,  of  all  animated  existences,  should  be  dependent  on  his  fellow  for 
the  means  of  supplying  his  natural  wants ;  that  one  portion  of  the  race  should 
be  forced  by  another  to  labor  for  the  subsistence  of  both  :  it  is  through  igno¬ 
rance  and  fraud  that  this  wrong  has  been  perpetrated  ;  but  its  day  is  nearly 
over.  It  is  not  the  intention  here  to  argue  this  question  of  Right :  it  is  a  truth 
so  obvious  as  only  to  require  statement  to  make  its  way  rapidly  through  the 
world,  that  Man  has  a  Right  to  Land. 

Yet  in  this  so-called  free  country  many  are  deprivedof  this  right.  Although, 
to  enable  every  family  to  enjoy  their  right  to  the  land,  it  is  necessary  that  no 
one  should  monopolize  more  than  a  fair  share,  this  just  principle  has  been  lost 
sight  of,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  people  are  deprived  of  their  birthright,  de¬ 
graded,  and  made  to  labor  for  the  support  of  idlers. 

The  right  having  been  discovered,  it  is  now  necessary  to  restore  it.  No 
generation  of  men  could  have  the  right  to  make  bargains  or  regulations  to  de¬ 
prive  any  portion  of  any  future  generation  of  their  natural  inheritance.  No 
individual  of  a  generation  could  have  a  right  to  part  with  his  own  inheritance, 
and  thereby  subject  himself  or  his  family  to  a  slavish  dependence.  The  right 
to  the  soil  is  inalienable,  and  this  now  being  well  ascertained,  it  would  be 
atrocious  to  allow  another  generation  to  pass  away  with  the  great  and  growing 
wrong  of  Land  Monopoly  unredressed.  How,  then,  in  the  safest,  speediest, 
most  humane,  and  most  effectual  way  shall  the  soil  be  restored  to  the  people, 
so  that  every  family  may  enjoy  the  possession  of  an  Independent  Freehold  ? 
The  National  Reformers  propose  three  measures  to  bring  about  the  desired 
result. 

I.  — LAND  LIMITATION. 

In  strict  justice,  the  landless  ought  to  be  put  in  immediate  possession  of 
their  fair  share  of  the  appropriated  soil,  and  to  receive  compensation  (as  far  as 
possible)  from  the  monopolists  for  the  loss  of  education,  property,  and  other 
deprivations  they  have  suffered  for  want  of  their  Birthright.  But,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  monopolists  would  say  they  had  “  purchased,”  or  “  mixed  up  their 
labor  with,”  the  soil  rightfully  belonging  to  the  landless,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  the  plundered  are,  from  the  very  nature  of  their  grievance,  too  unen¬ 
lightened  and  dependent  to  assert  at  once  their  entire  right.  Fortunately,  how¬ 
ever,  the  nature  of  the  existing  system  is  such  that  the  landless  and  the  land¬ 
holders  are  occasionally  changing  situations,  the  monopolists  having  no  security 
for  a  transmission  of  their  possessions  to  their  own  offspring  ;  for  which  reason 
nearly  all  landholders  possessing  only  their  proper  share,  and  all  enlightened 
men  even  among  the  monopolists,  will  be  willing  to  provide  a  better  system  for 
the  future  by  preventing  any  one  hereafter  from  acquiring  more  than  one  share 
of  the  common  inheritance.  This  single  provision,  as  all  will  see, would  cause 
all  to  be  freeholders  in  one  generation,  and  gradually,  as  the  process  of  resto¬ 
ration  went  on,  the  landless  would  become  less  dependent,  and  the  social  con¬ 
dition  of  the  whole  people  would  gradually  improve  in  about  the  same  ratio 
that  it  now  grows  worse. 

The  operation  would  be  this :  the  limitation  having  been  decided  on,  (say  a 
maximum  of  ICO  acres  for  a  farm,)  whenever  a  monopolist  died,  the  surplus 
above  the  limited  quantity  for  each  of  his  heirs  must  be  sold,  (to  landless  pur¬ 
chasers  of  course,)  and  the  heirs  take  the  proceeds  of  the  sale.  Thus  the  heirs 
would  be  sure  to  get  the  full  value  of  their  ancestors’  improvements,  and  the 


■> 


INALIENABLE  HOMESTEAD. 


landless  would  gradually  gain,  what  they  ought  to  have  been  born  with,  a 

FOOTHOLD  ON  THE  EARTH. 

It  will  also  be  necessary  to  provide  a  limit  for  city  and  village  lots,  for,  al¬ 
though  the  price  of  land  in  cities  and  villages  would  reduce,  as  thelandless  left 
them  to  become  freeholders  in  the  country,  till  none  were  left  that  could  not 
profitably  be  employed  and  eligibly  situated,  some  Astor  or  Trinity  Corporation, 
if  there  were  no  limit,  might  take  a  fancy  to  monopolize  100  acres  of  lots  and 
keep  them  vacant  or  compel  the  people  to  become  their  tenants.  No  family 
in  a  city  or  village  should  be  allowed  hereafter  to  acquire  a  second  lot  for  the 
purpose  of  exacting  Rent,  ©r  more  than  two  under  any  circumstances  ;  that  is, 
one  for  a  residence,  and  one  for  a  place  of  business.  Ponder  well,  Tenants,  on 
the  change  of  your  condition,  that  this  measure  would  produce. 

I  I.  — I  N  ALIEN  ABLE  HOMESTEAD. 

The  proper  object  of  government  is,  to  protect  the  people  in  all  their  natural 
rights  ;  to  secure  to  them  their  Homesteads,  on  which  they  mav  obtain  a  subsist- 
ence,  and  their  right  to  do  or  say  anything  not  infringing  on  others'  rights  to  do 
or  sav ;  to  do  the  public  works  that  individuals  cannot  do  ;  and  then  to  let  the 
people  alone. 

The  first  and  most  essential  right  is  the  free  use  of  land,  upon  which  to  ob¬ 
tain  food,  clothing,  and  shelter.  This  secured,  men  are  in  a  condition  to  obtain 
and  protect  all  their  other  rights,  and  to  devise  the  best  possible  modes  of  en¬ 
joying  them.  Without  this,  the  landless  must,  for  the  most  part,  be  slaves  in 
some  form  or  other,  to  those  who  have  possession  of  the  earth.  By  the  pos¬ 
session  of  wealth,  some,  without  being  landholders,  may  enjoy  temporary  ad¬ 
vantages,  may  exalt  themselves  above  others,  and  purchase  or  coerce  the  ser¬ 
vices  of  the  landless  poor ;  but  there  can  be  no  true  freedom  without  a  Free 
Home,  no  true  state  of  society  where  that  right  is  not  secured  to  all. 

Homes  can  be  secured  to  all  by  a  common  possession  of  the  land,  or  by  an 
equitable  apportionment.  In  many  ages  and  countries  the  land  has  been  held  in 
common,  and  may  again  be  so  held.  But,  so  much  false  selfishness  has  been 
engendered  by  the  present  inequitable  system  of  landholding  among  us,  that 
there  is  very  little  hope  or  desire  that  the  land  should  now  be  held  in  common. 
The  want  of  the  age  is,  that  the  present,  inequitable  apportionment  should  give 
place  to  a  just  arrangement.  None  should  starve  in  a  State  that  has  land 
enough  to  subsist  its  population  :  no  one  should  be  compelled  to  labor  for 
another  except  for  a  full  and  fair  equivalent.  The  security  of  a  sufficient 
Homestead  would  be  the  surest  guarantee  of  the  means  of  subsistence  to  all  will¬ 
ing  to  labor  for  them. 

To  secure  Homes  to  all,  it  is  quite  obvious,  first,  that  a  limit  must  be  decided 
upon  as  the  maximum  of  a  family  Homestead,  and  this  maximum  should  be 
such  as  would,  if  possible,  not  only  allow  to  every  family  a  sufficient  allotment, 
but  preserve  allotments  for  the  probable  increase  of  population  for  a  reasonable 
time  to  come  ;  and,  secondly,  that  each  man's  house  should  be  his  castle,  free 
from  mortgage,  and  from  which  he  could  not  beejected,  but  by  his  own  consent, 
and  that  of  his  wife  if  he  had  one. 

To  allow  mortgages,  even  if  sales  could  only  be  made  to  landless  persons, 
would  be  to  keep  up  the  monopoly  price  of  land.  The  Mortgage  is  only 
another  and  frequently  most  oppressive  form  of  Rent.  If  it  be  desirable  to 
enable  the  landless  to  become  freeholders  sooner  than  they  would  under  the 
plan  of  letting  monopolies  die  out  with  their  possessors,  rather  than  allow  the 
mischief-making  mortgage,  let  it  be  provided  that  monopolists  be  required  to 
sell  out  in  a  given  time.  The  Homestead  must  be  made  inalienable,  except 
only  when  the  header  heads  of  the  family  voluntarily  choose  to  transfer  it  to  a 
landless  person. 


FREEDOM  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 


o 


III.  — FREEDOM  OF  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

In  a  State  having  established  a  legal  limit  to  the  future  individual  acquisi¬ 
tion  of  land  within  its  borders,  in  one  generation  all  the  land  monopolies  of  that 
State  would  necessarily  be  broken  up  ;  and  if  other  States  had  in  the  meantime 
come  into  the  measure,  (as  they  would  do  rapidly,)  after  the  landless  were  all 
supplied  with  allotments,  the  remainder  of  the  land  would  escheat  to  the  State 
and  become  public  land.  This  as  well  as  all  other  lands  in  possession  of  the 
State,  and  all  in  possession  of  the  United  States,  should  be  properly  apportion¬ 
ed  in  farms  and  lots,  and  made  free  to  those  becoming  of  age  landless  or  to  those 
who  might  prefer  to  sell  to  such  their  possessions.  (See  Tract Young  America.”) 


Thus  by  the  operation  of  three  plain,  practicable  measures,  based  upon  the 
impregnable  principle  of  Man's  Equal  Right  to  the  Soil,  in  one  generation 
every  family,  in  every  State  that  shall  adopt  them,  will  be  in  possession  of 
Homesteads  guaranteed,  as  long  as  they  choose  to  occupy  them,  by  the  State. 
At  the  end  of  one  generation,  all  the  unoccupied  land  would  be  public  land, 
instead  of  speculators’,  and  would  be  an  unfailing  resource,  for  all  the  youth  who 
might  find  it  necessary  to  swarm  like  bees  from  a  hive,  from  the  family 
Homestead. 

On  the  Public  Lands  the  township  might  be  laid  out,  before  settlement,  on 
the  best  plan  that  could  be  devised  in  conformity  with  the  present  division  of 
labor  and  state  of  civilization  among  the  people.  On  the  lands  already  occupied, 
after  the  maximum  limit  should  be  established,  some  beneficial  arrangements 
might  be  adopted  to  bring  order  out  of  the  present  chaotic  divisions.  But  the 
great  first  object  is  to  secure  the  maximum  Limitation. 

There  is  no  family  but  wants  a  Homestead.  Whatever  be  a  man’s  occupa- 
pation,  he  wants  a  house  to  shelter  his  family.  If  he  can  secure  land  in  a 
location  suitable  for  his  business  he  will  find  means  to  build  him  a  house.  A 
garden  is  desirable,  and  every  family  not  overworked  to  pay  rent  may  cultivate 
one.  In  New- York,  already,  ihree-fourths  of  the  people  pay,  directly  and  indi 
reetly,  one  half  of  their  earnings  for  rent,  that  the  rent-receivers,  may  live  like 
drones  in  a  hive,  without  labor.  Like  drones  they  must  expect  to  be  expelled 
violently,  when  the  oppression  becomes  intolerable,  unless  the  mild  preventive 
proposed  by  the  National  Reformers  be  adopted. 

Every  city  is  growing  to  be  a  New-York  :  every  village  is  striving  to  be  a 
city.  Land  monopolies  drive  people  in  excess  to  the  villages  and  cities.  The 
excess  is  when  the  first  rent  is  collected,  when  there  is  one  family  that  cannot 
have  a  home.  “  If  you  pile  up  in  large  cities,  as  in  Europe,”  said  Jefferson, 
“  you  will  become  corrupt  as  in  Europe,  and  go  to  eating  one  another  as  they 
do  there  !”  These  words  of  Jefferson,  it  is  now  proved,  were  prophetic.  There 
is  no  remedy  but  Land  Limitation. 

In  the  State  that  shall  first  adopt  Land  Limitation,  and  the  Inalienable  Home¬ 
stead  principle,  will  the  most  be  obtained  for  the  lands  brought  into  the  market 
oy  that  measure,  because,  on  the  death  of  a  land  monopolist,  the  purchasers 
would  not  only  be  from  the  State  itself  but  from  the  surrounding  States.  Such 
would  be  the  desire  to  settle  in  a  State  in  which  the  Homestead  was  secured  and 
land  provided  for  each  child,  that,  for  a  time,  posset  dons  would  sell  as  high.,  under 
the  limit,  as  the  lands  did  before  ;  and  this,  perhaps,  would  go  on  until  the  adjoin¬ 
ing  States  should  adopt  the  same  measures,  which  they  must  do  or  lose  their  best 
population.  As  the  vacant  tracts  now  in  the  hands  of  monopolists  became  occupied 
by  industrious  settlers,  not  only  would  it  he  so  much  easier  to  make  and  improve 
the  ordinary  necessary  roads  and  bridges;,  not  only  would  the  people  have  bet- 


4 


THE  HOMESTEAD. 


ter  “  home  markets,”  but  the  people  would  be  enabled  to  make  and  possess  for 
their  own  benefit  the  railroads,  plankroads,  canals,  and  all  other  improvements 
now  monopolized  by  chartered  companies,  who  pet  paid  for  them  over  and  over 
and  over  again,  and  still  own  them  at  last,  building  up  nonproducing,  corrupt¬ 
ing,  dangerous  aristocracies  throughout  the  land.  Land  Limitation  would  be 
for  the  true  interest  of  all. 

For  Land  Limitation,  then,  we  must  vote  :  thanks  to  those  patriots,  heroes, 
and  martyrs  w  ho  secured  to  us  the  power  to  vote,  that  our  own  will,  based  on 
the  eternal  principle  of  justice,  should  be  the  law  of  the  land.  If  we  do  not 
vote  this,  we  shall  lose  the  power  to  vote  at  all.  Capital  will  become  richer ; 
Labor,  poorer.  Capital  will  grow  tyrannical  as  it  grows  rich.  When  the  La¬ 
borer  must  beg  of  the  Capitalist  work,  or  bread,  he  is  in  a  fair  way  to  sell  his 
vote,  and  Capital  will  soon  coerce  enough  votes  to  control  the  whole. 

We  must' vote  now ,  before  it  comes  to  that,  or  our  children  will  have  no 
resource  but  to  fight;  and  they  will  suffer  much  before  they  will  fight.  Wit¬ 
ness  Ireland. 

Vote,  then,  now  and  forever,  till  we  triumph,  for  Land  Limitation,  for  the 
Inalienable  Homestead,  for  the  Freedom  of  the  Public  Lands;  and,  while  we 
vote  for  these  radical  measures,  let  us  vote,  as  corrective^,  for  the  Ten  Hour 
system  in  chartered  factories  and  on  public  works,  and  for  a  of  dis¬ 

proportionate  official  salaries.  Vote  for  no  men,  under  any  circumsSRes,  who 
will  not  pledge  themselves  in  writing  to  these  measures.  Vote  yourself  afarm, 
or  a  lot,  upon  which  you  may  be  a  free  man.  Never  was  anything  so  just  and 
so  great  before  carried  to  the  ballot  box. 

Vote  that  your  sons  may  not  be  reduced  to  serfdom,  or  your  daughters  to 
drudgery. 

Vote  that  those  out  of  employ  may  go  to  the  land  and  employ  themselves. 
Vote  that  rents  may  get  cheaper,  and  labor  dearer.  Vote  that  times  may  get 
better  instead  of  worse. 

The  land  was  not  made  that  some  might  ride  over  it,  “  booted  and  spurred  r' 
on  the  backs  of  the  others.  Then  why  not  vote,  for  yourself  and  everybody 
else,  a  Homestead  ? 

There  are  always  those  who  prognosticate  defeat  to  every  good  thing  pro¬ 
posed  to  benefit  mankind.  Shortsightedness  and  false  selfishness  are  necessary 
results  of  the  present  monopoly  of  the  means  of  existence.  To  predicta  fail¬ 
ure  of  the  Free  Soil  movement  is  to  distrust  the  efficacy  of  the  ballot,  the  power 
of  truth,  and  the  force  of  justice.  This  reform  must  succeed,  because  it  is  just 
and  radical.  The  farmers  have  three-fourths  and  more  of  all  the  votes. 
Not  one  in  ten  of  the  farmers  can  secure  homes  to  their  children  under  the  pre¬ 
sent  system.  A  still  smaller  proportion  of  mechanics  can  do  so,  and  a  smaller 
proportion  yet  of  miners  and  seamen.  Homes  for  all  can  be  secured  by  the 
Free  Soil  measures  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  farmers,  mechanics,  miners, 
sailors,  and  laborers  will  be  relieved  of  the  support  of  an  expensive  aristocracy 
who  would  otherwise  hold  the  land  and  become  bloated,  besotted,  and  murder¬ 
ous,  like  other  landed  aristocracies. 

National  Reform,  therefore,  must  succeed.  A  Free  Soil  will  he  secured! 
And  the  only  effect  of  lethargy  and  croaking  will  be  to  prolong  the  reign  of  Land 
Monopoly  in  America.  One,  two,  or  mayhap  half-a-dozen  years,  and  subject 
Europe  to  another  famine  before  a  Free  Soil  can  be  established  there.  One 
coward  may  prevent  a  victory,  or  cause  a  defeat.  One  laggard  may,  by  re¬ 
tarding  a  just  reform,  protract  the  sufferings  and  miseries  of  countless  thousands  ! 

{(Cf=  Price,  40  cents  per  hundred.  Orders  (post  free)  maybe  addressed  to  John 
Windt,  Treasurer  of  the  National  Reform  Association,  or  to  the  Editor  of  the 
Young  America,  New-York.  Paper  $1.50  ?  year,  or  $5  for  packages  of  six 


